2 men charged with selling Armstrong form

BOSTON, July 21 (UPI) -- Two men were charged Tuesday, the 41st anniversary of the moon landing, with trying to sell a U.S. government document signed by Neil Armstrong, officials say.

One of the men, Thomas Chapman, 50, of Malden, Mass., was working as a Customs and Border Protection technician at Boston's Logan International Airport March 13 when Armstrong's American Airlines Flight 105 from London to New York was diverted to Logan because of bad weather, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

Armstrong, 79, deplaned, completed and signed a Customs Declarations form, which he allegedly turned over to Chapman before boarding a bus for New York.

Instead of filing the form with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chapman allegedly pocketed the document, taking it home with him, the Globe reported.

On March 14, Chapman allegedly took the signed form to a friend from Chelsea, Paul Brickman, 50. The pair then took the form to a third man who offered to have it listed with an auction house specializing in historical documents and autographs.

After bidding began the auction company pulled the listing after a bidder questioned the legality of selling an official government document, the newspaper said.

Homeland Security allegedly stepped in, seized the form and launched an investigation resulting in Tuesday's arrest of both Chapman and Brickman, who face charges before a federal grand jury of stealing and conveying an official record of the United States.

If the case goes to trial and the men are convicted, they could each face up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.